Hi, I am a newbie to terrariums, owning some pretty plants (monstera, Epipremnum, mosses etc) and an old aquarium (30x30x50cm) I wanted to set them into the aquarium as opposed to a planter. I don't plan on keeping any animals in there, which is very much my (likely self-made) issue. Any tutorial on terrariums I watch/read up on suggests to add springtails to consume mold and rotting biomass. But I am not comfortable with keeping these little bugs, because I worry I'll forget to do maintenance and they all die or that keeping them in an enclosed space is unethical.

Is it possible to maintain a terrarium without springtails? What if I keep the container without a lid? Will the humidity escape fast enough to avoid mold growth?

This is my first time raising Isopods. I thought they had almost died off. So I put some carrot in as a last resort. Within an hour a bunch of young ones came out to eat! They have at least doubled in number! I guess they are just good at hiding.

Started this isopod enclosure about 8-9 months ago, I've just got sandstones in there (and springtails, of course).

Triptych style terrarium. Variety if ferns and selaginella. Single piece of unknown wood chopped into three pieces and secured with silicone.

Photo of my biggest terrarium for attention. Things are less colourful currently; this is from about a year ago. I always enjoy my terrarium the most in February with the green contrasting with the Canadian winter. It’s especially white and snowy this week.

Hello all.

I'm a long time hobbyist fountain maker and an off and on keeper of reptiles and amphibians since I was a wee lad.

I'm embarking on an ambitious project to build a multi environment paludarium, connected by a running fountain (my goal is to create a desert environment with a small spring where the spring then runs into two part swamp environment and finally a purely aquatic environment.

I DO plan to keep different animals in the different environments (I even plan to make a river bank burrow for my hamster)... but before everyone crucifies me, I'm planning to make sure the animals remain isolated from (and largely unaware of) one another, except for the running water, and YES I know MANY amphibians are poisonous to other animals. I'm going to do all my homework to make sure I'm a good small critter daddy. I'll post videos and pics of the build as I go through it (I'm still in the materials assembling phase) and I'll be open to animal safety feedback as I do.

My question is about safe materials to use for making the water ways. I don't want to use something that leaches toxins into the water and harms my critters.

I have some Instant Ocean HoldFast Epoxy, which I thought will be good for gluing rocks and stuff in place (and which is "fish safe"), but I really want something like a grout, cement or modelling clay. There's stuff I've used for fountain making in the past, but it usually has chemical epoxies and resins in it that I don't think I want to expose the animals to.

Any ideas?